The Treber Family
The ancestors of the Trebers were Hollanders who emigrated to this country early in the eighteenth century and settled in Maryland. John Treber, one of their descendants, moved from Maryland to Lancaster County, Pa., where he married a Miss Campbell. In 1784, he moved to Alleghany County, Pa., and located on the Monongahela River, at or near the mouth of Peters Creek, where he remained working at his trade, that of a gunsmith. In 1794, he, with his family, descended the Ohio River in a flat-boat in company with Christopher Rowine and others, and after some adventures with the Indians along the shores, arrived at Limestone (now Maysville), Ky. At that time the landing at Maysville was so overcrowded with flat-boats that it often became necessary to set many of them adrift. Soon after the arrival of the Treber family at Limestone, Mrs. Treber died and was buried in the cemetery at that place.
In 1797, he married the widow Earle, and soon afterward moved with his family to what is now known as Adams County, Ohio. He purchased one hundred and thirty-six acres of land about twelve miles east of Maysville. In 1798, he built a two-story, hewed log house, which in later years was weatherboarded and a stone foundation built. It stands to-day in a good, habitable condition and is occupied by one of his grandsons. About the same time, Mr. Treber built a gunsmith shop, where he made from the raw material, every part of a gun, and did such smith work as was needed on the farm.
This house being located on Zane's Trace, the only thoroughfare between Wheeling, Va., and Limestone, Ky., and being large and commodious for that day, many travelers found food and shelter there, and the place soon became known as "Travelers' Rest."
All the noted politicians of the day from the Southwest traveled over this road on their way to and from Washington; the Wickcliffs, the Shelbys, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson were often patrons, and many times for brief seasons, sojourners and guests at the noted place, where they were always sure to find the best entertainment for man and beast the country afforded. The principal meats were venison and turkey.
There were no children by his second marriage, and after the death of the second Mrs. Treber, Mr. Treber married Miss Katherine Williams.
The children of his first marriage were Jacob; Elizabeth, who married Simon Wood, of Scioto County, Ohio; John, who located in Butler County, Ohio, and married Elizabeth Crawford ; Marion, who died unmarried; Anna, who married Oliver Thoroman, of Adams County, Ohio; Sarah, who married Isaac Fisher, of Butler County, Ohio; Henry, who located in Butler County, and Joseph, who located in Pike County, Ohio.
The children by the third marriage were Joel, who married Anna Mc- Feeters, and Benjamin, who died in infancy.
In John Treber were embodied all the characteristics of his Holland ancestors in a marked degree. His complexion was fair, his eyes blue, and his hair brown. He was strong of stature and physically very powerful. He could hold at arms' length a forty-five pound weight suspended on his little finger, and at the same time, with a piece of chalk in his hand, write his name on the wall with perfect ease.
In 1825, he exchanged his home on Zane's Trace with his son Jacob for another farm about two miles west where he died a few years later.
Jacob Treber, the eldest of the family of John Treber, was born near Lancaster City, Lancaster County, Pa., September 18, 1779. and was the only one of the sons who continued to reside in Adams County. In 18ro, he married Jane Thoroman, who died in 1829. and to them were born the following children: John, Oliver, Henry, Jacob, Mary Ann, Samuel, Joseph, Sarah, Elizabeth, William, Minerva .md Thomas Jefferson.
In 1833, be married Mary Ann, daughter of Jesse and Rachel Freeland, of Adams County, and of this marriage there were three children, LaFayette, Wilson and Louisa J.
Shortly after he became the owner of the homestead, he added to it another one hundred acres by purchase. Here he continued to live until the date of his death, January 4, 1875, leaving surviving him, his widow, twelve children, sixty-four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. His widow died at Manchester, Ohio, October 30, 1892. In 1811, Mr. Treber, with George Sample, made a trip to New Orleans on a flat-boat loaded with produce for that market. On their way, they, with others, bound on a like voyage, tied their boats at New Madrid, Mo. At this time occurred the terrible earthquake at that place, a short description of which is here given in Mrs. Treber's own language:
"The first shock took place while the boat was lying at the shore, in company with several others. At this period there was danger apprehended from the Southern Indians, it being soon after the battle of Tippecanoe, and for safety several boats kept in company for mutual defense in case of attack. In the middle of the night there was a terrible shock and a jamming of the boats so that the crew were all awakened and hurried on deck with their weapons of defense in their hands thinking the Indians were rushing on board. The ducks, geese, swans and various other aquatic birds, whose numberless flocks were quietly resting in the eddies of the river, were thrown into the greatest tumult, and with loud screams expressed their alarm and terror. The noise and commotion was soon hushed, and nothing could be discovered to excite apprehension, so that the boatmen concluded that the shock was occasioned by the falling in of a large mass of the bank near them. As soon as it was light enough to distinguish objects the crew were all up making ready to depart.
"Directly a loud roaring and hissing was heard, like the escape of steam from a boiler, accompanied by the most violent agitation of the shore and tremendous boiling up of the waters of the Mississippi in hugh swells, rolling the waters below back on the descending stream and tossing the boats about so violently, that the men with difficulty could keep on their feet. The sand-bars and points of islands gave way, swallowed up in the tremendous bosom of the river, carrying down with them the cottonwood trees, cracking and crashing, tossing their arms to and fro, as if sensible of their danger, while they disappeared beneath the flood. The water of the river which the day before was tolerably clear, being rather low, was now changed to a reddish hue and became thick with mud thrown up from its bottom, while the surface, lashed violently by the agitation of the earth beneath, was covered with foam, which gathering in masses the size of a barrel, floated along on the trembling surface. The earth along the shore opened in wide fissures, and, closing again, threw the water, sand and mud in huge jets higher than the tops of the trees.
"The atmosphere was filled with thick vapors or gas, to which the light imparted a purple tinge, altogether different in appearance from the autumnal hues of Indian summer or that of smoke. From the temporary check to the current, by the heaving up of the bottom, the sinking of the sand-bar and banks into the bed of the river, it rose in a few minutes five or six feet; and as if impatient of the restraint, again rushing forward with redoubled impetuosity, hurried along the boats now set loose by the horror-stricken boatmen, as in less danger on the water than at the shore, where the falling banks threatened at every moment to destroy them, or carry them down in the vortex of the sinking masses."
They reached New Orleans in safety, and after disposing of the boat and cargo they returned home on foot, going by the way of Lake Pontchartrain, Mussel Shoals, Nashville and Limestone.
Mr. Treber was a private soldier in the War of 1812, enlisting in a company commanded by Captain Dan Collier, recruited at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was Justice of the Peace of Tiffin Township from 1828 to 1831, and County Commissioner from 1833 to 1836. He was a man of unimpeachable character and integrity, universally respected and esteemed by his neighbors, who not infrequently sought his advice on questions of public and private import. He was an extensive reader, and probably no one in the county was better versed in history or the topics of the time. He was a lifelong, active and earnest Democrat of the Jefferson school, and for that statesman cast his first vote for President. While he was never a member of any church, yet he observed the Sabbath and often attended religious services, and while he was well versed in Scriptures, he disputed with no one on questions of faith or belief.
He was a man of remarkable personal appearance and vigor—more than six feet in height, slender and lithe—features sharp and angular, eyes blue and piercing, nose slightly Roman. He always stood erect, even in old age.
After a long and useful life he rests in the family cemetery beneath the shades of the old homestead.
Sometime after the removal of the brothers to other parts of the country, they changed their names to Traber, but how or under what circumstances is not known. It is supposed that the "a" was substituted for the "e," because the German "e" is pronounced in German "a" as in "day;" hence, a German would pronounce "Treber," "Traber," and so they came to spell it as it was pronounced.
Several of Jacob's children after leaving Adams County went to Butler County, and engaged in business in the neighborhood of their uncles, and to avoid explanation and confusion they wrote their names "Traber," like their uncles and their cousins, and it would seem that in no distant time that must become the family name, however, much it may be regretted by many members of the family.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900